21. In general, the Home Secretary expects applicants for citizenship to
meet fully the statutory requirements as to residence.
Each case,
however,
is looked at on its merits at the time when the application is made, and the
Home Secretary is prepared to exercise his discretion flexibly with regard to
periods of absence.
22.
Since the 1981 Act came into force on 1 January 1983, 14,544 grants of
have been made under section 4(2) to British Dependent
citizenship
Territories
citizens, British Nationals (Overseas), British Overseas
citizens, British subjects and British protected persons. 1,565 of those
grants relate to BDTCs in the period October 1986 March 1989. Our records
do not enable us to single out grants of citizenship to BDTCs from Hong Kong.
Crown service in a Dependent Territory
register as a British citizen
served in Crown Service under the
23. Under section 4(5) of the 1981 Act the Home Secretary may, in the
special circumstances of an applicant's case,
any applicant who has at any time
Government of a Dependent Territory; who has undertaken paid or unpaid
service as a member of any body in a Dependent Territory whose members are
appointed by the Crown.
or
24. A number of representations have been made recently to the effect that
the Government should be much more generous in granting citizenship under
section 4(5) of the 1981 Act to those who are in Crown service in Hong Kong.
Section 4(5) was introduced in the Bill in response to representations from
Hong Kong. It allows the Home Secretary, in the special circumstances of an
applicant's case, to grant British citizenship without prior residence in the
UK to any applicant who is, or has been, in service to which the section
applies. It was made clear during the passage of the Bill that the
discretion to grant citizenship under this section would be used sparingly
and that we would look for personal connections with the UK.
The
S$
Above all, we
would look for an exceptional level of service. There is no question of
citizenship being regarded as part of the regular emoluments of Crown
servants in the dependencies; but
Government thought it right that
section 4(5) should indicate that Crown service in the dependencies could in
some circumstances be recognised as benefiting the UK itself. The reference
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